O P E N I N G L I N E:
There is a witch in the woods. There has always been a witch.
Will you stop your fidgeting for once? My stars! I have never seen such a fidgety child.
No, sweetheart, I have not seen her. No one has. Not for ages. We've taken steps so that we will never see her.
Terrible steps.
Don't make me say it. You already know, anyway.
Oh, I don't know, darling. No one knows why she wants children. We don't know why she insists that it must always be the very youngest among us. It's not as though we could just ask her. She hasn't been seen. We make sure that she will not be seen.
Of course she exists. What a question! Look at the woods! So dangerous! Poisonous smoke and sinkholes and boiling geysers and terrible dangers every which way. Do you think it is so by accident? Rubbish! It was the Witch, and if we don't do as she says, what will become of us?
You really need me to explain it?
I'd rather not.
Oh, hush now, don't cry. It's not as though the Council of Elders is coming for you, now is it. You're far too old.
From our family?
Yes, dearest. Ever so long ago. Before you were born. He was a beautiful boy.
Now finish your supper and see to your chores. We'll all be up early tomorrow. The Day of Sacrifice waits for no one, and we must all be present to thank the child who will save us for one more year.
Your brother? How could I fight for him? If I had, the Witch would have killed us all and then where would we be? Sacrifice one or sacrifice all. That is the way of teh world. We couldn't change it if we tried.
Enough questions. Off with you. Fool child.
(pgs. 1-2, US hardcover edition)
This review was first posted January 23, 2017 and has been updated and re-posted today.
“When the goat's milk ran out (as it invariably did--the trek was long, and milk is heavy), Xan did what any sensible witch would do: once it was dark enough to see the stars, she reached up one hand and gathered starlight in her fingers, like the silken threads of spiders' webs, and fed it to the child. Starlight, as every witch knows, is a marvelous food for a growing infant. Starlight collection takes a certain knack and talent (magic, for starters), but children eat it with gusto. They grow fat and sated and shining.”
~THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON
Today, THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by Kelly Barnhill comes out in paperback!
This was my all-time favorite middle-grade title of 2016, and I was both surprised and ecstatic when I heard that it won the prestigious Newbery Award.
I'm celebrating by re-posting my initial review -- I still love this book so much and the new paperback edition is all velvety with a moon that shimmers. (Plus, it has a fancy Newbery Award on it, which my hardcover edition does not!)
When I first picked up THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by Kelly Barnhill, I already knew it was going to be special. Sometimes, you just know. The lyrical writing style captured me from the get-go. It felt like an instant classic that will be around for years to come. It felt like a tale from times long past. I mean, just look at the above quote I pulled out about feeding starlight to an infant! THAT is the type of book this is. Whimsical and lush, something to immediately hug to your heart.
The people of the Protectorate are surrounded by dangerous woods and have had their world previously brought to the brink of destruction. To combat the danger and keep the town safe, every year, on the Day of Sacrifice, the youngest among them is sacrificed and left in the woods to be devoured by a horrible, evil witch. In return, the witch will leave the town alone.
The only problem? There is no witch.
The Elders invented her in order to keep the Protectorate firmly under its control, to keep people from leaving, from moving on. They leave the baby in the woods to die, alone and afraid.
Except...there really IS a witch.
Her name is Xan, and she is kind and good. Every year for some unknown reason, the people of the Protectorate leave an infant alone in the woods. Every year, Xan makes the trek to save the child and take him or her to a new family miles and miles away. The adoption occurs at the same time each year, on Star Child Day, and the children grow up to be happy and healthy. Xan always feeds the children a little bit of starlight, which is exactly the right food for a growing baby. However, this time she accidentally feeds a baby some moonlight and enmagicks her. She names the baby Luna and promises to raise her as her own, to become a witch's apprentice. But Luna never imagines the way she may eventually be reunited with her birth town....
My summary is nothing. It can't encapsulate all that is this magnificent book. Especially since there is SO MUCH MORE to the plot. And a lot of it is spoilery. But the novel has some amazing villains that will consume a child's imagination, as well as some fiercely lovable heroes. And dragons. There is a tiny, tiny dragon who thinks he is huge, and he's such a lovable sidekick!
THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON reads like a fairy tale. Like mythology. Like a book you just want to hug and hug and share with every child you come across. It's the perfect blend of fantasy and whimsy. As soon as I finished, I just...couldn't. There are no words for how much I loved this book.
When I finished, I immediately wanted to read every single Kelly Barnhill book. She had been on my radar for years. I owned a couple of her books and had even met her once at the Book Expo of America when THE WITCH'S BOY was being promoted. I just had never gotten around to it. I love when I read an author for the first time and find the book so powerful that I immediately want to dive into backlist -- especially when there are more titles to discover and the author isn't a debut! Brownie points when the books are already accessible, lol.
You don't have to take MY word for how special THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON is, though. In October 2016, Fox Animation announced that it had bought the rights to turn the book into a movie. The screenplay will be written by Marc Haimes, who got a LOT of good press in 2016 for his work on the movie Kubo and the Two Strings. Since there is little known about the development process and animated movies take years to make (especially if they go the claymation route), I'm hoping it's still in progress and didn't stall. This book has a beauty all its own, and forms pictures of its world with its words. I can see it being an absolutely stunning animated film. I'm so excited for it to come out so that more people can discover THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON, which flew under the radar in 2016 and wasn't talked about a lot. But that all changed once it won the prestigious Newbery Award, and it has been amazing to see this beautiful book get all the attention and acclaim it deserves. It will be even more accessible to more readers now that it is in an affordable paperback format, and I can't wait to introduce it to new readers all over again.
If you want a great book that will appeal to all ages, from children to adults, and utterly enchant you, then THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON deserves one of the highest spots on your TBR list!
~*~
C O N T E N T R A T I N G S
Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Romance: --
Language: --
Violence: G ( There is some spoilery battle showdown stuff, but nothing too scary for kids! The (spoilers, sorry!) villain might be scary for children, but is done so well! )
Violence: G ( There is some spoilery battle showdown stuff, but nothing too scary for kids! The (spoilers, sorry!) villain might be scary for children, but is done so well! )
Other: G ( Babies are abandoned in the woods each year, and taken from their families. They are left in the woods to die. This may be upsetting to younger readers. )
~*~
C O V E R D E S I G N:
I hope you enjoy today's Design Vlog because it took me two and a half hours to get it to you!
BUT the book is so pretty that it's worth it, right!?
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON
Author: Kelly Barnhill
Author: Kelly Barnhill
Release Date: August 15, 2016
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule--but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her--even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.
The acclaimed author of THE WITCH'S BOY has created another epic coming-of-age fairy tale destined to become a modern classic.
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